Drawing upon decades of experience, RAND provides research services, systematic analysis, and innovative thinking to a global clientele that includes government agencies, foundations, and private-sector firms.

The Pardee RAND Graduate School (PRGS.edu) is the largest public policy Ph.D. program in the nation and the only program based at an independent public policy research organization—the RAND Corporation.

Purchase

Purchase Print Copy

Abstract

This report provides an introduction to sustainable community activities and ways in which supporters of pollution prevention can take advantage of such efforts. A "sustainable community" effort consists of a long-term integrated and systems approach to developing and achieving a healthy community by addressing economic, environmental and social issues. Fostering a strong sense of community and building partnerships among key stakeholders are also important elements of such efforts. This report discusses how hundreds of communities across the United States are taking "sustainable community" approaches to deal with their most pressing problems. Such approaches have been applied to issues as varied as urban sprawl, inner-city and brownfield redevelopment, new economic development, a strong local economy, environmental justice, ecosystem management, agriculture, biodiversity, green buildings, energy conservation, watershed management, and pollution prevention. This report explains such activities by examining the process of developing a sustainable community initiative, describing sources of support, and presenting detailed community examples. Then, it explores the relationship between sustainable community activities and pollution prevention. The author includes an extensive annotated bibliography giving points of contact with phone numbers, web page addresses, and published documents about sustainable community activities throughout the United States.

Research conducted by

This report is part of the RAND Corporation monograph report series. The monograph/report was a product of the RAND Corporation from 1993 to 2003. RAND monograph/reports presented major research findings that addressed the challenges facing the public and private sectors. They included executive summaries, technical documentation, and synthesis pieces.

Permission is given to duplicate this electronic document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Copies may not be duplicated for commercial purposes. Unauthorized posting of RAND PDFs to a non-RAND Web site is prohibited. RAND PDFs are protected under copyright law. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit the RAND Permissions page.

The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.

The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. RAND is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public interest.